I note that this type of issue has been raised in the forums before. My situation is slightly different in that it is a recurrent problem, and it affects the whole neighborhood.

I live on the Sunshine Coast, where storms frequently cause power blackouts. Every time, after power has been restored, my landline has no dial tone.

The internet (ADSL) works perfectly, no degradation of performance at all, but the phone is dead, no dial tone, callers to my landline get a message to the effect that "the number you have dialled is currently unavailable, please try again later." The screen on my phone says "Check tel line".

I guess it would be tolerable if I could get mobile reception, but that is poor/nonexistent where I live.

Each time it happens, I go through the drill of unplugging everything from the single socket, connecting an old standard phone on a short cable etc. etc.
Of course this changes nothing.

The point is, this is a repeat occurrence, and Exetel needs to treat it as a recurring fault.. Clearly some part of the telephone infrastructure in my area does not reset to normal after a power failure.

Why can't this be fixed, instead of having to go through the same rigmarole every time it happens? Just fix it. Properly.

Well it's now December and there still has been no permanent fix. Was out for 6 days in February. Happened again in April, twice in May, then November, and is happening right now. No dial tone, people calling me get message "Number currently unavailable". As before the fault followed a power outage.